`Can I see your licence, please'

[Deviant Esq]

Cheers, Deviant. I'll be an indicator nazi from now on

Yep I'd appreciate it if this didn't turn into a cop bashing thread. Do send me some advice on not riding like a dick, though.

Deviant to xerxesdaphat (wtf does that mean anyway? ): Don't ride like a penis. Chur.

Nah, easy enough. Just have a think about what you hate most that other road users do, and see what other KBers moan about... and you'll know what not to do. You come across as having a sensible head on your shoulders anyway, so I'm sure you won't have any problems. Dover's right though, time and place matters a lot. I love having fun on my bike as much as the next guy, but I keep to the limits in town and make sure I indicate 3 seconds before I want to move, as well as not making movements too sudden for poor old cager's eyes to keep up with. Experience teaches it best

[KLOWN]

I think this my be a case of youwho have not sinned cast the first stone. I'm sure all the people who have posted have done something wrong in thier driving. I have done many illegal things. You were very lucky to get off your ticket. Good stuff for you!

To all the people who say yay to the cop for discretion. I say phooey. If this had been a car who was tailgating speeding and not indicating you would want him locked up and there would be a thousand posts about stupid cages. This was NOT a good example of discretion. But as others have said it IS purely chance wheather you get a ticket or not. I have been let off with a warning for doing 110 in a fifty. I have got a ticket for 61 in a 50 at 2am with just me and the cop on the road. I have had a $1200 fine for something I didn't do but the cop made up the ticket cause he was pisssed at me. I have been let off 180 in 100. I got a $600 dollar fine for accelerating too quickly. I was nice (polite/friendly) to all the cops on all occasions. Don't matter what you do or say its up to the cop. Maybe it matters if your being a dick, but you do the crime you do the time (cheezy but true)

[Ixion]

.. And at 10 pm when I was stopped the traffic is sparse. ....
Why did you get off with a warning even though you were going a lot faster and were following too close? Was it because you're on a learner's licence and I've had mine for 37 years? ... On what is that discretion based if not the circumstances?

Perhaps because yours was 10pm at night and traffic was sparse. This is a bit of an Auckland thing, you need to know what that area is like. When the Persian gentleman buzzed down it, most of the traffic would either have been doing about the speed he was , or going a LOT slower, pulling into parking lots etc (which was the stuff he was overtaking).

Had he not had that L plate up, it's unlikely the cop would have singled him out from all the other traffic (if the cop were to stop everybody speeding around him, he'd have gotten writer's cramp). 10pm , not much traffic, you stood out.

I suspect he was a real (GD) cop, not a scorpion (HP). He saw the L plate , saw some riding that wasn't out of line with the other traffic but WAS worth having a word about; to see if the rider was just a sensible lad going with the flow - or, a over confident punk waiting to be smeared. The former being the case he saw no need to take any enforcement action .

And maybe cos cops are human and some are "nicer" than others. And sometimes they are in a shitty mood cos the missus won't put out, and the sarge has bawled them out. Or, vice versa, as the case may be.

[xwhatsit]

...Persian gentleman...

At LAST! Not that I am Persian.

I suspect he was a real (GD) cop, not a scorpion (HP).

Pretty likely, I think. The HP have those gloriously ugly paint jobs, don't they? I think this was an ordinary car.

I think riding while hungry is up there with riding when you need to pee

[Smorg]

I always get pissed at the GSXR riders who scream off from the traffic lights, riding like twats outside my work, perhaps I'm being hypocritical?

Na Your just being a jelly dude ow!

[avgas]

He'll probably have noted the stop in his notebook

Did he get your number - he might want to rape you later

fact of the matter was why wait 5 mins to pull you over for speeding? they were following you. Its like gambling - if you wait long enough, they will do something even more stupid.

[Hotchefnz]

Hmmmmmmmmmm wait seven days and see if anything comes through the post - have fallen for the nice guy cop before only to have a surprise arrive in the post.
Hope I'm wrong.

[xwhatsit]

Hmmmmmmmmmm wait seven days and see if anything comes through the post - have fallen for the nice guy cop before only to have a surprise arrive in the post.
Hope I'm wrong.

Oh shit is that right? Lol not what I wanted to hear. Oh well, sure it's all for the best.

[caesius]

Hmmmmmmmmmm wait seven days and see if anything comes through the post - have fallen for the nice guy cop before only to have a surprise arrive in the post.
Hope I'm wrong.

The same (sort of) thing happened to me on my last speeding fine, the cop was a great guy, saying he'd write my speed down as 125 so the fine was less. Nothing else mentioned. We said our goodbyes BUT 7 days later the fine comes in for speeding AND no L-plate ($400)!

[desmo dave]

What you didn't see was his twitchy hand covering off the taser behind his back and the women being raped on his bonnet. Letting you off was just a way to bribe you as a potential prosecution witness.

Nice guys, come on, how naieve.

Thats a goodie

[SPman]

A cops experience and their gut feeling, neither of which can be measured or taught.

I used a similar technique as a Building Inspector and it rarely let me down.

Unfortunately, because it can't be measured, quantified and set down as a narrowly defined concrete rule or regulation which can be shaped and controlled, authorities don't like it!
Also - those who feel they are hard done by, normally because they deserve to be, squeal like stuck pigs because of "bias", so that it makes you wonder sometimes, if it is all worth it!

[mazz1972]

xer...you are one lucky bugger not getting a ticket (are you sure it's not coming in the mail?).

Have to agree with previous comments regarding indicators - definately important when changing lanes - if someone else also changes lanes without indicating the consquences could be very nasty.

[spudchucka]

I used a similar technique as a Building Inspector and it rarely let me down.

Unfortunately, because it can't be measured, quantified and set down as a narrowly defined concrete rule or regulation which can be shaped and controlled, authorities don't like it!
Also - those who feel they are hard done by, normally because they deserve to be, squeal like stuck pigs because of "bias", so that it makes you wonder sometimes, if it is all worth it!

Very true.

[Scouse]

Congratulations for not getting a ticket, but your experience just underlines the capricious nature of enforcement. I got a ticket some time ago in exactly the same place. Rounding Greenwoods Corner and heading downhill towards Royal Oak there is a natural tendency for speed to increase temporarily, and outside rush hours it would be hard to find many vehicles doing less than 60 along this stretch. The road is broad with no obvious hazards until you get to the pedestrian crossing by the school and then the entrance to the shopping mall where you need to slow right down. And at 10 pm when I was stopped the traffic is sparse. My attempt at explanation/mitigation was cut short by a curt "I'm going to give you a ticket for exceeding 50 km/h" and I ended up with 20 points on my licence as well as the fine for doing I think 67 or 68 km/h.
Why did you get off with a warning even though you were going a lot faster and were following too close? Was it because you're on a learner's licence and I've had mine for 37 years? Was it because the cop thought I could afford the fine but you couldn't? Or was it just that one was having a good day and the other wasn't?? ?Why were you lucky and I wasn't?

Prolly cause your a whiney winjer

[scumdog]

How you think this pig made a good decision is beyond me.

IF you had been on an open road in an unpopulated area with no other traffic around then maybe, but speeding like a twat in town is irresponsible and deserves a fucking ticket.

Especially when you admit to not even knowing what speed you were doing.

All the righteous cunts on here harp on about time and place, do you think this was the time and place for

A) riding in that manner?
B) a thick plod using "discretion"?

I can't see anyone else getting discretion for 160 in a 100 zone, even if it was the dead of night, on the desert rd, without any other cunt for miles.

SPBs fishing mate? or dopelganger?

Whatever, it's all starting to wear a bit thin, ya need to try another act or you'll lose ALL the audience.